


The Abuse of Power?

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 16:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20951111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Naomi has very definite views about things





	The Abuse of Power?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'power'

The Abuse of Power?

by Bluewolf

Naomi's itinerant lifestyle, which led her to spend a lot of time in areas that didn't have much in the way of technology, meant that when he was growing up Blair rarely got the opportunity to watch television. He knew nothing of programs like Sesame Street or The Jetsons - not that he particularly cared. Even as young as six he enjoyed reading, and absorbed non-fiction avidly, finding it more interesting than the occasional fictional book he picked up.

However, Naomi returned to America in January of 1979, having decided that although she had home-schooled him (she believed successfully) and encouraged his interest in reading, he would need a 'proper' education. Already, nearly ten, he had expressed a wish to go to university when he was old enough, and she knew that he would need school qualifications before any university would accept him.

She wasn't exactly happy that he would be falling in with the stereotyped upper-middle-class way of life that she had eschewed for many years and that she had tried to rear Blair to believe was suffocating. She could understand wanting knowledge; that was part of why she wandered the world as she did. Her inheritance from her grandparents had given her enough money that she would never have to work - and, ironically, she had no problem in using that money to live a life of leisure even though she openly criticized the style of life that had amassed it. And she still felt that Blair could get as much book learning as he wanted through reading.

However, she reluctantly accepted that if going to university was what he wanted... It would be interfering with his freedom of choice if she made it impossible for him to do so.

She had remained in occasional touch with her parents over the years, and they had welcomed her home, even indicating that they would be happy to care for Blair if her restlessness took her away again.

And so Naomi and Blair settled down in Fort Worth. Blair started school (after being tested for his level of knowledge he was put into a class of twelve-year-olds, where the only thing that kept him from being thoroughly disliked because of his youth was a combination of his modesty regarding his academic knowledge and his skill at several sports) and for the first time Blair discovered things like TV.

He enjoyed some TV, though he completely failed to understand the popularity of a lot of shows, especially the soaps and sitcoms his grandmother liked; his preference was for travel shows. Encouraged by his years of travelling the world with Naomi, he was already very interested in the way people lived, and he thought that anthropology would be a very rewarding subject to study.

***

They were watching the news one night, not long after they returned to America, when the main topic was the overthrow of Idi Amin.

Naomi nodded as the bulletin progressed. "Power corrupts," she said. "And absolute power, which Amin had, corrupts absolutely. Even a ruler who starts off with the best of intentions, unless he has some sort of legal opposition, becomes a dictator - and Amin was particularly brutal. I'm not surprised that his people finally said 'Enough!'" She was silent for a moment. "And all of these dictators have yes-men supporting them. Their army, their police - jackbooted thugs whose primary job is to make sure that anyone who speaks out against the system is prevented from doing so."

Blair wasn't totally convinced; even in the short time he had been in school in Fort Worth, his teachers had said, several times, that some people - mostly, but not always, men - were dangerous, especially towards children; and that if they felt threatened they should speak to a policeman/woman and ask him (or her) for help. And when one of his classmates said, with the assurance of a twelve-year old, "But we're not children!" to one of the teachers, she had replied,

"While you're still at school you're considered a child. You're not really considered adult until you're eighteen.

"But the important thing - what I want you all to remember - is that some men are what we call pedophiles. You've been getting sex education classes, haven't you?"

There was a general chorus of agreement.

"Hasn't that covered pedophiles yet?"

"No," someone said.

"They're men who want to have sex with children. And that's wrong. So if you think that a man is watching you, or one you don't know tries to get you to go with him, look for a policeman and ask for help."

Remembering that, Blair decided that Naomi was - for some reason - prejudiced again the police. He said nothing to her, however, just let her think that he accepted what she was saying.

***

When Blair was sixteen, he went to university, choosing Rainier because of its reputation regarding anthropology. When he was twenty-six, he met Jim Ellison - a sentinel - and began an extended ride-along with him.

Naomi was horrified. She still considered that the police were jackbooted thugs, though she did have to admit that in America, at least, they weren't enforcing the diktats of a power-hungry dictator. She still thought, though, that the police enjoyed flexing their muscles, enjoyed having what they considered power over the general public.

And then she met Jim... and the rest of the detectives in Major Crime; and was forced to admit that perhaps she was wrong. In countries like America, they were there to uphold the law, not oppress people in general.

But despite that - she would never accept that there weren't some countries where the police were indeed thugs, there to keep the general populace oppressed, in keeping with the power-hungry attitude of their dictator rulers. And - wanderer through she was - those were not countries she ever wanted to visit.


End file.
